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College Web Hosting Policy

Publicly accessible web pages presenting college information must be hosted within the college's content management system.

Contents

Purpose

This policy, approved by the College of Agricultural
Sciences Dean’s group, establishes a central web hosting policy for all faculty
and staff within the college. The
benefits of hosting all college web pages in a single content management system
include:

Search engine optimization

Mobile-friendly experienceOur sites are optimized to be easily viewed on any device including mobile.

A strategic, college-wide information
architecture

Standard college branding (including compliance
with Penn State policy AD-54)

Site-wide Google AnalyticsWe are able to analyze web traffic for all college websites and use the data to make improvements.

Ability to quickly make site-wide improvements
or changesIf changes need to be made to comply with best practices or University policy, we can quickly implement them across the site.

As a result, we are able to increase our search rankings and
visits to our websites, and provide a consistent user experience. Additionally, the college web and
communications team is able to provide support, all software and hardware
upgrades, compliance with University policies, writing and photography as necessary,
and consulting on best web practices.

Scope

All publicly accessible web pages presenting college
information must adhere to the policy below. This includes all pages containing
information sanctioned by the College of Agricultural Sciences and directly
related to college business or activities including, but not limited to:

Academic programs

Departments and units

Research labs, projects, and Centers

Facilities

Penn State Extension programs

Policy

All web pages within the above scope must be published
within the college's Plone content management system (CMS) under one of the
following domains:

agsci.psu.edu

extension.psu.edu

creamery.psu.edu

One of the nine academic department domains

Web pages presenting college information should never be
hosted outside of the college CMS or under domains that are not psu.edu (such
as .org or .com) unless approved as an exception by the Dean’s group after
consultation with the Communications and Marketing unit and the requester. Additionally, approval from the Penn State
Office of Strategic Communications may be required.

Exceptions

Exceptions to this policy may include web applications that
are not able to run in Plone or content that is shared with other colleges, institutes, or
organizations. Requests for exceptions must be submitted through the
Communications and Marketing Project Request Form.